Glass elements which have, at least in sections thereof, an appearance of steel, especially stainless steel, are known. Such glass elements are used, for example, in the kitchen area, especially for ovens, or for architectural glazing such as doors. For example, a transparent glass or glass ceramic sheet may be provided with a surface of metallic appearance in an edge region thereof, so creating the impression that the sheet is framed by metal.
To achieve such a metallic appearance it is known from actual practice, for example, to laminate a metal foil or a foil having a metallic appearance onto the surface.
This foil is usually textured and may thus provide an appearance similar to that of brushed stainless steel. If applied to a front face, i.e. the face with which the user comes into contact, such a foil is easily damaged mechanically or detaches from the glass substrate.
When applied to the rear face, although not being subjected to excessive mechanical stress, however, such a composite is prone to delamination, due to the high humidity prevailing in the kitchen and especially with cooking equipment. Frameless composites often exhibit delamination effects starting from the edges.
Also known in the art are decoratively textured laminates produced by multiple printing similar to the manufacturing of a decorative texture of laminate flooring. In this case a texture is obtained by differently colored decorative printing. Achieving such a visual impression is complex, and is limited to a viewed face. Moreover, it is extremely complicated by means of a conventional printing method to apply a textured coating which has a metallic appearance.